ericdabbs

The Note 3 and GS4 both have CDMA 800 voice so you should be all good there. In terms of LTE 800 for the Note 3 or GS4, you are out of luck unless you get the LG G2, Nexus 5 or the other 2 Samsung triband LTE phones.

It sucks you are put into this dilemma but the GS4 and Note 3 only have LTE 1900 support. The only thing I am skeptical about this 10/10/13 expiration date is that Sprint has been promoting this $100 port in credit since the GS4 and HTC One have come out. I am sure that Sprint purposely introduce expiration dates to get the customers to trigger an impulse reaction thinking that a promotion is ending soon and they must upgrade now. I wonder if Sprint is going to extend the $100 port in credit after 10/10/13. I highly doubt this $100 port in credit promotion started in March 2013 and had an end date of 10/10/13. My guess is that the $100 port in credit promotion in March 2013 had an expiration date of sometime in May 2013 and then the promotion was renewed every 2 months. I know Sprint is still dying to attract customers given the lost business of iDEN wholesale customers plus Sprint customers defecting to other carriers due to slow data speeds and voice issues.

But does the MEMS camera have OIS technology? Hopefully its true that the Nexus 5 will be released by late Oct. I won't be picking up my phone of choice until first week of November so hopefully by then reviews will be out. Also I hope Sprint has a floor model that will be available at Sprint stores to play with.

I stopped by an AT&T store to play with the Note 3 and man is the faux leather back pretty lame. I mean the back is still pretty much plastic still and the fake stitching is quite hilarious but it does feel better than just plastic. The size of the Note 3 looks exactly like the Note 2 which is not a surprise but it looks pretty good. The floor model didn't have the S-pen available so I couldn't try out the Air Command features but the speaker is kinda weak. I loaded a youtube video and put it at max volume and it was OK but I guess I expected more. The sides of the phone with the "notebook" look and feel like a nice touch up to the Note 3.

That was different situation. All Sprint LTE phones in 2012 had embedded SIMs. Starting in 2013, all Sprint LTE phones have removable SIMs so it shouldn't have been a surprise. The bigger question I want to know about the Note 3 is if it is using a CSIM card so that it is swappable between the iPhone 5S and future Sprint LTE phones without needing to phone into Sprint.

Conversation is done. No need to spin it off.

I didn't mean that they would say that they will wait it out until those towers in the countryside are built out with LTE. I was more referring to the LTE network is built out in the areas that they most often go to. I agree with you in that if the tools were provided to show them that they are making progress with LTE buildout, there will be more faith. A perfect way to show them is if you know a specific site that is accepted as LTE and you drive and show them that you are connected to LTE and then drive to a site where it is not accepted as LTE and show them that you do not get LTE, it helps validate the NV complete sites map and puts trust that the information is correct. However I think the average user doesn't care to learn about how all this stuff works and just wants LTE to work when they turn on their phone. When I try to talk to people about how Sprint is trying to deploy LTE at 800 MHz and how its going to be like Verizon LTE coverage their minds are just blown since I start getting technical. Obviously you and I are different and we both care to learn about this stuff but just saying its not always as easy as it sounds.

I think most people will answer your statements by saying, I will switch over or consider Sprint when the network is built out. Its hard to convince someone to wait especially when they are coming from ATT or Verizon which they are used to having LTE everywhere. I think once the CDMA 800 and LTE 800 networks start getting built out that is when it will make a more convincing argument. I think most people coming from other carriers wouldn't care as much about LTE 2600 but LTE 800 and CDMA 800 is more of a concern.

I didn't know that about the iPhones as well. I don't know why Apple and LG do this. My only guess is for aesthetic looks so it looks balanced on both sides. Personally I would rather have LG just stick to the one speaker grill on the right side so its clear that a speaker grill equates to a speaker.

Same here. I have my doubts that it will make it to America especially if its new technology. I think it would be wise for Samsung and LG to test out the flexible display demand and performance in Korea first before making it available internationally.

I think people are confused between LTE 800 and CDMA 800 since there is no LTE 800 launched to date. You'll be surprised at how often people get confused between the 2. This is how I think they get confused. They download the SignalCheck Pro and Lite app. They get a 1x800 alert/sound or see it on their phone but at the same time they are also connected to LTE. At this point, the average user assumes that they are connecting to LTE 800 because they don't question if you can be connected to CDMA 800 and LTE 1900 at the same time on different frequencies. I think they assume that CDMA and LTE must go together so if CDMA is connected at 800 MHz then LTE must be connected at 800 MHz as well which we know is not the case. Or else by that theory, we would never connect to LTE 2600 because Sprint is not deploying CDMA 2600. The only way to confirm LTE 800 is to look at the engineering screens to see if you are connected to B26 and as far as I know, no one has reported or shown screenshots of engineering. I bet if these folks looked at their engineering screens it would show B25 connected. Sprint is deploying or at least setting up for LTE in all bands at this moment. LTE 1900 and LTE 2600 deployment is ongoing as we speak and LTE 800 is going to start ramping up in Q4. The LTE 800 equipment is already installed on deployed NV towers and all Sprint has done is just turn off those radios since when they were launched the iDEN network was still active. Now crews have to go back and make some configuration adjustments and LTE 800 can be lit up real quick. The LTE 2600 deployment is an entirely different effort that is being deployed on the Clearwire side. If you become a Premier Sponsor you can see all the progress between LTE 2600 and LTE 800.

I forgot about this. 2300 maH battery. http://www.unwiredview.com/2013/09/12/lg-accidentally-publishes-nexus-5-gd820-pics-among-verizon-g2-fcc-documents/

Good points. At this point, I just want to see reviews of folks during endurance testing on the phone to see how real performance behaves. I get what you are saying in that comparing the HTC One with 2300 maH is not equal to the Nexus 5 with 2300 maH because the HTC One uses the S600 chip and the Nexus 5 is suppose to be using the S800 chip which should contribute to better battery life. Once the final specs are out then people can evaluate the whole package to see if its right for them.

Bomp bomp bomp ......baa wwaaaaaaaaaaa *Price is Right*

Son tells us to be patient with Sprint turnaround which can take 2 years. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/softbanks-son-urges-patience-sprint-turnaround-says-it-could-take-2-years/2013-10-01

Imagine all those iPhones you could have bought and sold.

Well there you have it. We can call off the Unsolved Mysteries detective now.

Yup I am sad too about the lack of 800 MHz in Orange County until the IBEZ is resolved since I work out in Orange County. You should try to confirm towers that are around you that you know are NV upgraded and see if it has 800 MHz RRUs already installed on the tower. If it doesn't, then it pretty much confirms that the screenshot that was posted is accurate. I don't know why the IBEZ stretches far above the exclusion zone which should have been from the Mexican border all the way up to San Clemente and after that the 800 MHz should have been free to use. However I am relieved that LTE 2600 will be here sooner rather than later.

It depends on what you call as much. I would say sufficient in some of the big markets. LTE 2600 is rolling out in 2 phases over the existing Clearwire network. Phase 1 is for high priority sites that Clearwire is upgrading first and Phase 2 is to upgrade the rest of the Clearwire network. So even by late Oct, only part (and in some cases all) of the Phase 1 towers in different markets are already complete.Because you aren't a Premier Sponsor, you can't see the LTE 2600 deployment maps but it is pretty exciting. The problem I see with 800 MHz in Orange County is that it won't get any for a long time. The towers in Orange County I believe don't have the 800 MHz RRUs installed at the NV towers right now and it might have to do with the Mexico IBEZ or 800 MHz spectrum squatters. Either way 800 MHz deployment isn't happening for awhile for CDMA or LTE in Orange County. I live out in Rowland Heights and the NV towers that have been upgraded do not have the 800 MHz RRUs installed and when I look at the map that in the link below it makes sense since Rowland Heights looks like in the red dots. Look at post #379 by Robert that talks about 800 MHz in Orange County. If you look at the map, you see a bunch of red dots which are all in Orange County. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2445-network-visionlte-orange-county-market-anaheimsanta-anairvinehuntington-beach/page-19

Well sine you are in Milwaukee, you won't see a difference since the LTE 2600 deployment is only going on in Clearwire's existing Wimax network and Milwaukee was not a Wimax network. However folks in the larger markets in Phase 1 of the LTE 2600 rollout will see some difference depending if they live near an area of LTE 2600 coverage. I am not trying to say its a full blown widespread coverage of LTE 2600 by late October but I can understand why late October could be an ideal time to launch the LG G2 but at the same time not be too late to the party.

Well if the rumors of a Oct 15th or 17th launch have any truth to them, the FCC docs need to come out very soon.

I respectfully disagree. If you saw the map of LTE 2600 deployment and the dates they have penciled in for launch, you wouldn't be saying that.

I don't think anyone saying 2300 maH is bad if all you are doing is maybe just browse the web and use some apps. But the reality is that the majority of the folks use their smartphone in some way to do gaming or video browsing. I know myself I do a lot of youtube watching so for video or audio streaming it is going to drain the battery. I don't care if its Android 4.4 kit kat or not the battery is going to drain when gaming or streaming video. Sure every new release of Android is slowly improving on battery life but I don't believe that it is enough to compensate for a 700 maH difference between the Nexus 5 and G2. I would need to see proof when Android finally unveils Android 4.4 kitkat and do reviews on it. Even with a UI skin from the OEMs, I doubt it will make that dramatic of a difference in battery life between stock Android and LG UI skin Android. Besides the first thing most devs do on XDA once you can root is unpack the stock ROM and make a debloated stock ROM so that should help with battery life. I know if I got the G2, I would be flashing the debloated stock ROM.

But we don't know the thickness of the phone. It doesn't say that in the FCC filing nor has any tech blog come out an speculate what it is. All it says in the FCC filing is the H x W of the phone. Not saying the chances are high of a 2300+ maH battery but technically they could make the phone thicker than what we would expect of the Nexus phone if it meant adding a beefier battery. I am sure most people would not object to the Nexus 5 being the same thickness of the LG G2 (0.35") if it meant cramming in a 2700 maH battery. But the chances of that happening *looking at magic 8 ball* not so good.

*deep voice* You're damn right!!! .....SHAFT!!